FOX News - A homeless man's six loyal dogs reportedly spent more than 24 hours waiting outside a Brazilian hospital for their owner after he suffered a stroke.

The man, only identified as Luiz by local media, suffered a stroke last week in the southern city of Cianorte. He was taken to the Santa Cara hospital for treatment, where he was discharged a day later.

His loyal pups followed the ambulance taking their owner away and then spent hours howling outside of the hospital. They kept vigil outside the front door of the hospital, Brazilian newspaper G1 reported.

“The dogs were desperate,” Simone Zilane, a volunteer with the NGO organization Amigos de Patas Cianorte, told G1. “They followed the ambulance, racing after it down the roads and arrived just as Luis was being taken into the hospital. They went mad as they took him and howled non-stop at the entrance.”

Zilane, who photographed the pups, said Luiz was discharged a day later – the dogs none the wiser as he left with his brother through another exit.

“One of our volunteers from the NGO had to fetch Luiz at his brother’s house and take him to where the dogs were for them to leave the front [of the hospital],” Zilane added. “He hadn’t realized they were outside all this time, but he wasn’t too surprised.”